1. Evelyn Hernandez
Prayer vs. Science
As a child, I always went to church. I would participate as much as I could and even
helped with what was needed during mass. Prayer was a big thing in my life, we prayed for
everything that we needed. At no point in my life though did my parents not take me to the
doctor if I was sick. If someone was not feeling well, we would pray for them, but also told them
that they needed to see the doctor. Many people that pray do go to the doctor, yet there are some
that believe that the power of prayer can cure any illnesses people can suffer from. That doctors
are not needed, we will be cured by God or Jesus. In “Can Spirituality Overcome Illness” we
read about both sides. People that believe that praying can help us be healthier and people that
say there “is no scientific way to determine that spirituality can heal.” In “When Faith Kills:
Christian Healing at the Expense of Rational Medicine” we can read that there are consequences
to believing that praying by itself will cure the illness of a person.
In “Can Spirituality Overcome Illness”, the authors, Herbert Benson and Marg Stark talk
about “Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief.” In their article, they explain that
when a person experiences spiritually, they are not just emotional but also physical wellness.
One does not have to be devout to experience the benefits of faith that we get when we pray. In
this article they explained an investigation they conducted by making a survey. In this survey
they measured the “spiritual feelings that accompanied the relaxation response.” And
documented the “frequency and potential health effects.” From this survey they were not able to
get much data since almost everyone answered that their belief in God was what helped them

2. with their faith. What they were able to find from their survey was that women had higher
“spirituality” scores than men.
The authors then explain that even though their findings were inconclusive they still have
some advice for people. The advice is for people that want to incorporate healing beliefs and
faith into their everyday life. This advice consist on letting faith heal you, trust yourself, self-care
is important, do not trust people that say that they have all the answers, nocebo is important, no
one lives forever and lastly believe in the good things.
On the other side of the argument in “Can Spirituality Overcome Illness”. William B.
Lindley writes about “Prayer and Healing”. He starts by explaining that he was raised in
Christian Science, so he has a bit of an insight about what he is talking about. As he grew up, he
started learning about how science is conducted and decided that he did not want to keep
believing in Christian Science. He then talks about a book in which they say that the way people
pray now a days, is not the way they should be praying, that kind of prayers are outdated and
should be modified. Yet they do not explain if this is a modern way of praying that has been
outdated or an old version of it.
If prayer indeed cured every single cause of death and illness we would have a crisis in
overpopulation since no one would die. When William B. Lindley talks about the experiments
that have been conducted to prove the power of prayer, he notices that they usually do not have
correct information on them. For example when they talk about enzymes, they talk about trypsin,
dopamine and noradrenaline, which are not enzymes.

3. Lindley also mentions that everyone has a different way of praying. Different words are
used and some people never actually say what they want to pray for, but just trust that their
prayers will be answered in one way or another.
In “When Faith Kills: Christian Healing at the Expense of Rational Medicine” we learn
about the consequences of people believing that faith itself will heal an illness. One family that
had a little boy that was suffering decided they were not going to take him to the doctor but
instead they were going to pray for his recovery. This little boy sadly never got better and died.
When the law tried to punish them, they were set free because they technically did not hurt they
boy and there was no “neglect”. A few years later their daughter also got sick, but instead of
taking her to the doctor, again they decided that praying would heal her. Instead of learning from
their mistake, the same tragedy happened and the girl also passed away. This girl had a disease
that could have been treated for her to have a long life.
When the law tries to convict the parents, they cannot because they are protected by their
religion. They have the right to practice their religion even if it means that kids are not getting
the care they deserve. Many of the kids that sadly die because their parents believe that faith will
heal them, actually have diseases that can be treated. They think that going to the doctor is
against God’s word. Many people will go even as far as saying that it is a sin to go to the doctor
and that they will get the devil’s mark. This stems from the Old Testament where it says that the
Lord will heal the people that pray to him.
We need to realize that even though we are allowed to pray for others, we should also
take them to a doctors if there is an illness. Praying does help, yet it mostly only helps the person
doing the prayer. The prayer most of the times feels calmer and relaxed after a prayer has been

4. done. It does help with the mental state like meditation would, but it does not actually cure an
illness.